Business: Loans

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to create a more competitive banking industry in order to improve the availability of loans for (a) consumers and (b) small businesses.

Mark Hoban: The Government are clear that competition drives efficiency and helps to ensure that consumers are able to access the wide range of financial products that they need.
	The Independent Commission on Banking, under the Chairmanship of Sir John Vickers, has been asked to consider structural and non-structural reforms to the UK banking sector to promote competition and financial stability. The Commission will produce an interim report in April and their final report in September 2011.
	On 9 February the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced a new lending commitment by the UK’s biggest high street banks. As part of this commitment the banks intend to lend £190 billion of new credit to businesses in 2011, up from £179 billion in 2010 if demand exceeds this, the banks will lend more. £76 billion of this lending will be to small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). This is a 15% increase on 2010 lending of £66 billion.
	The Government are also taking forward their plans to ensure a healthier consumer credit market through the review of Consumer Credit and Personal Insolvency. The Government are also consulting on the merits of shifting responsibility for consumer credit regulation from the Office of Fair Trading to the new Financial Conduct Authority, as part of the Government’s wider plans to reform the financial services regulatory framework.

Nuclear Power: Finance

Martin Horwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the (a) analysis and (b) calculations underlying his Department's estimate that the existing nuclear sector is likely to receive on average £50 million per annum to 2030 in higher wholesale electricity prices attributable to the carbon price support proposals in the Finance (No 3) Bill.

Justine Greening: The figure is based on public data and Government's assessment of the industry, which was applied to the likely change in electricity generation capacity and changes in the wholesale price of electricity. The figure is a result of the modelled impact of the price floor on wholesale prices until the late 2020s.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what licences have been issued under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 in the last five years; and for what purposes, including translocation and despatch and excluding the randomised badger cull trial.

James Paice: Statistics for licences issued by Natural England under the Badger Act 1992 up to 30 June 2010 are on the website at:
	http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/wildlife/licences/statistics.aspx
	In the five years 2006 to 2010, a total of 4,044 licences were issued by Natural England, mostly for sett interference or disturbance, for the following purposes:
	
		
			 Purpose Number of licences issued 
			 Prevention of serious damage 2,154 
			 Drainage or flood defence 257 
			 Agricultural or Forestry operations 612 
			 Preventing the spread of disease 18 
			 Development(1) 985 
			 Science, Education and Conservation(2) 18 
			 (1 )Data for development licences issued in 2006 not included as Natural England does not hold information for this. (2) Data for licences issued for Scientific, Education or Conservation purposes in 2006 and 2007 not included as Natural England does not hold information for this. 
		
	
	This table includes provisional statistics for the whole of 2010, and may be subject to change as records for 2010 are checked and updated.

Cattle: Transport

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) origin and (b) destination was of each consignment of calves shipped from Ramsgate on 16 June 2011; how many consignments had journeys exceeding 18 hours; and in respect of how many of the consignments with journeys exceeding 18 hours the animals were unloaded and rested in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport.

James Paice: On 16 June, three consignments of calves were exported from Ramsgate to destinations in France. These consignments originated from Wales, the north, and south-west of England.
	Each consignment was accompanied by a journey log approved by Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA). To be approved, each journey, as described, would need to meet the rules on journey times and rest periods laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005.
	There is an obligation under this legislation for transporters to return the completed journey log following completion of the journey so that the actual journey details can be checked against those same details in the original approved journey log. AHVLA will investigate further if there are deviations, suggesting a possible infringement of the legislation. If subsequent investigations confirm that this is the case, AHVLA will take the necessary proportionate enforcement action against the transporter.
	Transporters must return journey logs to the AHVLA Welfare in Transport team within one month of the completion of each journey. In this particular case, as the deadline has now passed and the journey logs have yet to be returned, AHVLA is pursuing this matter with the transporter.

Departmental Procurement

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what provisions in respect of behavioural standards have been included in procurement contracts issued by her Department since May 2010.

Richard Benyon: The Department has followed OGC guidelines when drawing up new contracts since May 2010. Behavioural standards are included in clauses covering prevention of corruption, prevention of fraud, discrimination, environmental requirements, health and safety, data protection, confidentiality and security. In addition, Model Terms and Conditions for Contracts Services contain clauses covering conflict of interest and vetting procedures.

Dogs: Animal Welfare

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether her Department has any plans to bring forward proposals for the abolition of legislative exemptions on conditions of breeding, keeping and euthanising of beagles;
	(2)  what plans her Department has to improve standards of animal welfare at beagle farms in the next four financial years;
	(3)  what her Department's policy is on standards of animal welfare at beagle farms;
	(4)  whether her Department has any plans to amend regulations on conditions of animal welfare among commercially-bred beagles.

James Paice: The standards that apply in establishments where animals are being bred for the purpose of scientific experimentation are the responsibility of the Home Office, not DEFRA. There are no plans for DEFRA to take responsibility for these establishments.
	Section 58 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (AWA) lays down that breeding establishments for animals to be used in experimentation are specifically exempted from the AWA.

Eggs: Imports

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will bring forward proposals to protect egg producers from adverse effects arising from the import of (a) food products manufactured from shell eggs produced in systems in other EU member states which do not comply with EU directives and (b) egg products manufactured from eggs produced in conventional cage production systems outside the EU.

James Paice: holding answer 14 July 2011
	The Government are totally committed to the 2012 deadline to have phased out the keeping of laying hens in conventional cages in the UK. From 1 January 2012, it will therefore be illegal to keep laying hens in conventional cages and on that basis, marketing such eggs as Class A within the UK will be against the law.
	We are not able unilaterally to prevent egg products produced from eggs in conventional cages being imported from Third Countries. World Trade Organisation rules do not allow members to ban imports on the grounds of the welfare standards applied in third countries.
	We have, however, been at the forefront of efforts to convince the Commission that simply relying on infraction proceedings against non-compliant member states will not be enough to deal with the negative impact that non-compliance would cause and that additional measures would need to be put in place to prevent market disturbance and to protect compliant producers. We will continue to keep up the pressure on the Commission to act and act quickly.
	We are also in the process of drawing up an enforcement strategy which we will be discussing with industry representatives and retailers and how we can best work together to take things forward.

Food: Procurement

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the written statement of 16 June 2011, Official Report, columns 77-78WS, on Food and Catering Services (Government Buying Standards), what estimate her Department has made of the costs of implementing and maintaining its policy that fish will be procured from certifiably sustainable sources from September 2011.

Richard Benyon: Overfishing is the most widespread and significant human pressure on marine wildlife and habitats. Many fish stocks are overexploited globally, with the FAO reporting in 2010 that 32% of stocks are overexploited, depleted or recovering. A further 53% of stocks are fully exploited, with the rest under or moderately exploited.
	Within the North East Atlantic (in 2011), 63% of stocks are overexploited, and 37% are at or below their maximum sustainable yield.
	It is therefore very important that we lead by example in procuring sustainable fish and I believe that a 100% target is fully achievable.
	We have estimated that around 60% of fish procured by central Government is demonstrably sustainable. To increase this to 100%, based upon an assumed 5% price premium for sustainably-sourced fish, the cost of implementing and maintaining this criteria is estimated to be:
	Approximately £227,000 per annum where the food procured is taxpayer-funded (prisons, MOD operational and so on);
	Approximately £95,000 per annum where the food procured is customer-funded (central Government Department staff restaurants).
	Two caveats apply here:
	These are undiscounted costs. A discount rate of 3.5% per annum is usually used in the appraisal of Government policy, so as to allow an accurate comparison of costs and benefits which occur in different years;
	The latter figures do not take into account a possible demand response, though this is likely to be relatively small.

Hill Farming: Finance

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many former hill farm allowance applicants are now participating in uplands entry level stewardship; and how many are in receipt of the uplands transitional payment.

James Paice: There were 7,009 eligible claims for the Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) 2010. An initial analysis of uptake up to mid-January 2011 shows that of these claims 2,503 were receiving Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (Uplands ELS) and 2,099 were receiving Uplands Transitional Payment (UTP). The analysis will be published this week on DEFRA's website.
	A further analysis will be undertaken once a full year's Uplands ELS uptake data is available in July. This will give a fuller picture of how former HFA claimants are participating in either UTP or Uplands ELS. It is expected that this will show a further increase in the proportion of HFA 2010 recipients with a live Uplands ELS agreement; between mid-January and mid-June the number of live Uplands ELS agreements increased by 29% to 4,590.

Ivory

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking (a) through international organisations and (b) at EU level to implement the commitment in the coalition agreement to press for a ban on ivory sales.

Richard Benyon: The UK is working with EU partners, other countries and non-governmental organisations, to develop a robust and highly precautionary line to take in discussions on the development of that decision-making mechanism. This will be one of the key areas of discussion at the forthcoming CITES Standing Committee meeting, which takes place next month in Geneva.
	The global ban on the international commercial sale of ivory, agreed by parties to the convention on international trade in endangered species (CITES) in 1989, remains in place.
	Nevertheless, at the 14th CITES conference of the parties in 2007, it was agreed that a decision-making mechanism for any future sales would be developed by 2013.

Ivory

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding the UK provides (a) directly and (b) through the EU for elephant protection in (i) Africa and (ii) Asia.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA supports elephant protection by funding conservation projects in Africa and Asia directly, via the Darwin Initiative, and through trade controls applied under the Convention on international trade in endangered species (CITES).
	The Government have made tackling illegal trafficking in wildlife a priority and this year we are providing £30,000 towards a CITES programme which monitors the illegal killing of elephants (MIKE). We are also providing £35,000 towards the running of the international Union for Conservation of Nature's African Elephant Specialist Group which works closely with African states to protect elephant populations. We will also provide £90,000 to an Interpol project to help African states improve their enforcement capacity and elephant (and rhino) protection.
	We are currently funding three Darwin Initiative projects contributing to elephant conservation totalling approximately £495,000 over three years, and another project worth £240,000, that will fund improvements to the ETIS database which monitors all illegal seizures of ivory around the world. In addition, the UK has funded wider international projects that will protect the habitats of forest-dwelling elephants by combating deforestation and illegal logging (for example, in the Congo Basin and South East Asia).
	The UK also contributes to the EU budget which in turn provides significant funding to CITES activities on elephant issues. This work includes a meeting in November 2010 that brought together African countries to discuss elephant conservation, and the MIKE programme in Africa (€10 million over the last five years), as well as several wider projects on forest conservation.

Rural Development Programme

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the level of demand for funding available through the Rural Development Programme for England to support upland farming.

James Paice: We continue to monitor uptake of all agri-environment schemes, including Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (Uplands ELS). Uptake of Uplands ELS currently stands at 4,600 agreements or 708,200 hectares of land in the Severely Disadvantaged Area.
	In maximising the use of EU funds, and through the spending review settlement, we have successfully maintained planned levels of spend on agri-environment at above £400 million per annum. Within this amount, we remain committed to maximising uptake for Uplands ELS and have ensured that funding is available to enable all eligible famers to enter the scheme. Uplands ELS uptake is currently limited by the area of land that remains in Countryside Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Area agreements. These will be eligible to renew into Uplands ELS (and also in many cases Higher Level Stewardship) as agreements expire between now and 2015. We are working with Natural England to maximise such renewals.
	As announced in the Uplands Policy Review on 10 March, the Government are working to develop an 'uplands theme' for Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) delivery for the rest of the programme and will be discussing what this needs to deliver with industry representatives. In addition, some priority is being given to helping those Leader Local Action Groups (LAG) in uplands areas continue to deliver against their Local Development Strategies. The LAG and DEFRA RDPE delivery team will discuss and agree how best to deliver this support at the local level, based on demand and performance criteria.

Sustainable Development: EU Action

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she plans to respond to the European Commission Communication on the Rio 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development, COM(2011) 363.

James Paice: The Communication sets out the European Commission's initial views on what it thinks should be agreed at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, 4-6 June 2102. It is a staff working document, and its contents have not been agreed outside the Commission. In October the Environment Council is expected to agree Conclusions on Rio+20, and the UK will be fully involved in the negotiating process leading up to those Conclusions being adopted: the Communication is the Commission's contribution to that process.

Yorkshire Dales National Park

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the consultation process on altering the Yorkshire Dales National Park boundaries.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 25 July 2011
	In accordance with section 7 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, Natural England must consult with every local authority and parish council which has land in the area to be designated National Park, as well as every local authority, parish council and the National Park Authority with land in any National Park whose boundaries are proposed to be varied. Natural England's total consultation costs for consulting with statutory consultees and the general public on proposed extensions to the boundaries of both the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District National Parks is just under £100,000 to March 2011 of which 50% is attributable to the Yorkshire dales.

Libya

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the effects of operations in Libya on military capabilities.

Liam Fox: holding answer 18 July 2011
	As the Chief of Defence Staff said on 14 June 2011:
	“We can sustain this operation as long as we choose to. I am absolutely clear on that.”
	Events in Libya have confirmed the Strategic Defence and Security Review decisions to adopt an adaptable posture with flexible forces—we can conduct a wide range of operations at considerable distance from UK and we retain high readiness forces for air and naval operations. The outstanding work of our armed forces in Operation Ellamy demonstrates that the UK remains able to project power and influence.

South Sudan: Military Aid

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide a small military training and technical team to the Government of Southern Sudan to assist their military capacity building.

Nick Harvey: We will support capacity building by the governments of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan through a variety of targeted training opportunities.

Mental Health Services: Greater London

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the mental health performance data for NHS London for the third quarter of 2010-11, for what reasons the use of early intervention services and crisis resolution services increased.

Paul Burstow: In London, there were 3,992 people receiving treatment by early intervention teams at the end of the third quarter (December 2010) compared to 3,957 in quarter two and 3,928 in quarter one.
	Data for Crisis Resolution services are collected cumulatively. In London, teams carried out 17,867 home treatment episodes over the first three quarters in 2010-11; of which 6,060 episodes were recorded for quarter one and 12,009 episodes for quarter two.
	Data suggest that there was no noticeable increase in activities by the early intervention and crisis resolution services in London.
	Data is collected by the NHS Information Centre; it is available on request but not routinely published.

Mental Illness: Offenders

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the joint HM inspectorate of prisons and HM inspectorate of constabulary report into police custody suites in Avon and Somerset, what guidance his Department has issued to primary care trusts on the provision of places of safety for people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983; and if he will take steps to assist South Gloucestershire primary care trust to improve its provision of such places.

Paul Burstow: The Department published guidance on places of safety in the revised Mental Health Act 1983 code of practice in May 2008, effective from November 2008. In addition, the Department issued guidance on section 44 of the Mental Health Act 2007 about transferring patients between places of safety. This came into force in April 2008.
	The Department is working with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the National Police Improvement Agency to develop joint guidance on mental health which included a response to section 136 (s136) and a template for a service level agreement on how a health-based place of safety should be managed in accordance with the Mental Health Act 1983 code of practice.
	Additionally, the Department is working with 10 police early adopter forces to transfer commissioning of police custodial health care. Complicit in this work will be care pathways for several cohorts of detainees into current community provision, including section 136 detainees into a health-based place of safety.
	Commissioning responsibility for all national health service services, including the provision of places of safety for section 136 detainees, rests with primary care trusts (PCTs). Each PCT should decide which health care treatments and services to provide for its local population, and commission these from NHS or independent sector providers. The Department is not prescriptive about how individual PCTs spend their budgets.

Physiotherapy: Fees and Charges

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 7 June 2011, Official Report, column 91W, on physiotherapy, and with reference to the NHS Future Forum report, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that prices set for physiotherapy services within the NHS do not lead to restrictions on the availability of services to patients; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what measures his Department plans to put in place for future oversight of prices set for physiotherapy services within the NHS;
	(3)  what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that prices set for physiotherapy services within the NHS (a) are consistent across geographical areas and (b) do not lead to competition based on price.

Simon Burns: We have proposed that future oversight of prices within the national health service would be undertaken by Monitor and the NHS Commissioning Board, as set out in the Health and Social Care Bill (Part 3, Chapter 5). Under the proposed legislation, it would be for the NHS Commissioning Board to agree with Monitor whether and to what extent prices for physiotherapy services were to be determined by the national tariff, or set locally.
	Monitor would lead on developing the methodology for determining prices under the national tariff and agree this with the NHS Commissioning Board. We would expect Monitor to ensure consistency in the methodology for determining prices across different geographical areas, having regard to any unavoidable differences in the cost of providing services in different geographical areas.
	In carrying out its functions, Monitor would have to have regard to the need for commissioners to secure access to health care services, to meet the needs of their populations, and to make best use of NHS resources in doing so. In this way, commissioners will remain responsible for securing services and making best use of NHS resources to meet the health care needs of their populations, including in securing access to physiotherapy.
	We tabled amendments during Public Bill Committee to make clear that the national tariff would be a fixed price, rather than a maximum price, so as to enable competition on quality, not on price, driven by patients' choices. For services outside the scope of the national tariff, we would expect commissioners to set prices on value for money criteria, as per guidance set out in the ‘Procurement guide for commissioners of NHS-funded services’, published in July 2010:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_118218
	A copy of this document has already been placed in the Library.

Saudi Arabia

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2011, Official Report, column 1376W, on visits abroad: Saudi Arabia, what official meetings or functions the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State attended; and what the (a) purpose and (b) outcome was of each.

Jeremy Browne: Lord Marland met a variety of British businesses during a dinner on his arrival on 29 May 2011. The next day he attended the International Energy Forum where he met Noe Van Hulst, Secretary General. Later he met Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Riyadh, Dr Waleed Abulfaraj, VP, King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs. Finally, he visited King Saud University and met the President, Dr Abdullah al Othman.
	The purpose of the meetings was to strengthen the UK's relationship with Saudi Arabia on energy, commercial and other bilateral issues. This included reinforcing the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Gulf Initiative, discussing oil and gas issues and exploring opportunities for the British and Saudi governments to support the private sector in driving sustainable and mutually beneficial growth.
	The outcome of the meetings was a strengthened producer-consumer dialogue on wide range of energy issues, including oil and gas market evolution and nuclear projects. He opened talks on potential major commercial deals, and reported back to Government on new commercial opportunities. He was also able to inform major Gulf investors about key UK inward investment opportunities which have laid essential groundwork for his future follow-up visit with a trade and investment delegation in his capacity as chairman of the ambassadors' network.